Wednesday, September 9, 2026
EVENT: "Lamentation" An Exhibit of Paintings by Jane Otto, with an Artist Talk on Reparations, September 23, 2026
Tuesday, September 1, 2026
Bishop of New Jersey Sought to Prevent Anti-Racist Organizing
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| Promotional Poster produced by The ESCRU (courtesy of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture) |
Even as early as the 1970s there was public scholarly documentation of the Bishop of New Jersey’s openly reactionary behavior in response to anti-racist organizing. John Kater’s 1973 dissertation[1] on “The Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity” (ESCRU)[2] provides a telling account of Bishop Banyard’s response to the organization in New Jersey.
Soon after its founding in 1959, the organization was based out of Atlanta. Priests in the Diocese of New Jersey were not among the first to work to affiliate with the ESCRU, with at least eleven chapters forming in other dioceses before the New Jersey chapter was attempted,[3] and much of the initial organizing oriented around southern segregation. The organization’s statement of purpose indicated that its goal was “to encourage men to respond positively to God’s call for unity in the Church,” which included “total participation in the Church for all persons without regard to race, class, or national origin; to give mutual support to all who act in this ministry of reconciliation; and to express this concern at parish levels and in a more creative witness throughout the community at large.”[4]
ESCRU was particularly committed to working against segregation and to “seeking the elimination of racial and other prejudicial barriers in society,”[5] and had a favorable reception from many bishops in the Episcopal Church. However, by 1964 the actions of the members of the New Jersey chapter had already drawn highly critical attention from Bishop Alfred L. Banyard. Kater writes: some episcopal authorities regarded ESCRU as an invasion of their jurisdiction and a threat to their leadership. Many of the southern bishops reacted in this way, as did the diocesan leadership in Long Island during the St. John's Hospital crisis. The Bishop of New Jersey was especially hostile to ESCRU's local efforts.[6] Kater describes the conflict in the following way: “In late 1964 and early 1965, a group of ESCRU members organized a chapter in the Diocese of New Jersey and elected Robert R. Spears, rector of Trinity Church, Princeton, as president. Spears wrote to the Bishop in February notifying him of their action. In response, Bishop… Banyard sent a memorandum addressed ‘To a Select Number of Our Clergy and Laity.’”[7] Banyard’s memo included the following accusation:
Not one single member of the Steering Committee or Officers or anyone else, including Spears himself, ever mentioned this to me…. Not one single clergyman ever mentioned the fact that they were plotting to establish this organization in my Jurisdiction…[8]
Kater goes on to state that Banyard “condemned”[9] what he described as Spears’ so-called “brazen and well-planned ignoring of [his] authority,”[10] and that in the memo Banyard similarly condemned “three resolutions proposed by the chapter to the Diocesan Convention”[11] that he deemed “highly controversial.”[12] These resolutions were, in fact, only aimed at providing support for “the Presiding Bishop’s Church and Race Fund, equal employment opportunities and Christian obedience.”[13]
While the ESCRU reception by the Bishop of New Jersey was not entirely without parallel, Kater does single it out as an extreme example of a negative episcopal reaction to the organization and its anti-racist aims. Kater’s history of the ESCRU is excellent reading and provides an important description of mid-20th century anti-racist organizing in the Episcopal Church. Though the organization experienced criticism for its mostly White leadership, and for not doing enough to platform Black voices in addressing the issue of segregation, the ESCRU ultimately helped birth other more effective and longer-established groups that carried forward the work of anti-racist organizing in the Episcopal Church, including the Union of Black Episcopalians.
Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, Ph.D.
Reparations Commission Research Historian
Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey
[1] John L. Kater, Jr., “The Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity and its Role in the Episcopal Church, 1959—1970,” (PhD diss., McGill University, 1973): https://mcgill.scholaris.ca/items/0c9dcd81-30a8-4112-aa0d-ee4a815edb30.
[2] For more information see “Origins of the ESCRU” at https://exhibits.episcopalarchives.org/s/church-awakens/page/escru2.
[3] Kater, “Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity,” 96.
[4] The Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity, “Statement of Purpose,” 1: https://exhibits.episcopalarchives.org/files/original/c67873df02107f362f631727722d9e7d0cd584a8.pdf.
[5] The Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity, “Statement of Purpose,” 3.
[6] Kater, “Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity,” 97.
[7] Kater, “Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity,” 97.
[8] Bishop Alfred L. Banyard, Memorandum "To a Select Number of Our Clergy and Laity," April 19, 1965. As quoted in Kater, “Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity,” 97. MSS held at ESCRU archives at Emory University: https://archives.libraries.emory.edu/repositories/7/resources/2679.
[9] Kater, “Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity,” 97.
[10] Banyard, Memorandum.
[11] Kater, “Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity,” 97.
[12] Banyard, Memorandum.
[13] Kater, “Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity,” 97.
Monday, August 10, 2026
Banyard Disputes Concerns Over Collaboration with Openly Racist Levitt Corporation: A Letter to The Rev. Carter, on June 18, 1958
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| Rt. Rev. Alfred L. Banyard (photo by J. Pruszinski of portrait at Diocese of New Jersey, Trenton, NJ) & the Rev. Junius F. Carter, Jr. (Detail of "NAACP Million Dollar Campaign" (2021). B. L. Hooks Papers images. 648.) |
As protests over the proposed diocesan collaboration with the racist Levitt corporation began to grow, and the racist policies were reported in the national press,[1] Bishop Banyard responded to a letter of concern[2] from the Rev. Junius F. Carter, Jr. of St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, Elizabeth to dispute the legitimacy of the concerns.
Firstly, in his greeting Banyard uses Carter’s first name with no honorific, unlike in the letter on the same subject[3] he had just written to a younger White priest he addressed as “Father Ralph.” Without preamble he delves straight into the matter at hand.
Banyard repeats the same arguments he had already rehearsed in that correspondence with the Rev. Ralph Lasher, “countless others who have written me,”[4] and apparently to the Rev. Kenneth MacDonald and Mr. J. Arthur Jones at a Board of Missions meeting the previous week. He claims that the policy of the diocese is only to have integrated churches, implying that any church built would thus inherently be integrated (ignoring the possibility of de facto segregation). In re-stating that the Levitt policy conflicts with state laws, he also suggests that the policy would not be possible to enforce, and was thus moot. And he further states that he will establish the church “if it is at all possible to administer to our people on an integrated basis.”
He goes on to suggest that because it has been difficult to garner support for the project across the diocese, that he believes that racial concerns will only be used as an excuse for non-cooperation by “recalcitrants.” He claims to be “just as indignant about segregation as… anyone else” but pointedly singles out “the colored” for the segregation he believes they practice themselves. He claims that he did not previously bring up this issue even though it “annoyed” him, but that now he brings it up in order to argue against what he claims is “an organized campaign… to oppose the establishment of a church in Levittown.” He asks that Carter “do something about that.”
He ends with further assurances that he cares about the issue and that Carter does “not need to worry about the stand of our Diocese of New Jersey and of your Bishop.” However, Banyard ultimately chose to cooperate with the Levitt corporation in spite of their policy of racial discrimination against Black people, worked to marginalize and de-legitimize protests against the collaboration, and denigrated those who had questioned the propriety of the partnership. In fact, contrary to his promise, he chose to establish the church even though the community it served was not integrated. The full letter to Carter[5] is presented below.
Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, Ph.D.
Reparations Commission Research Historian
Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey
[1] E.g. in Tom Barrett, “N.J. Levittown Started; Negro Exclusion Stands,” New York Herald Tribune, June 8, 1958.
[2] “Junius F. Carter, Jr. to Alfred L. Banyard,” June 16, 1958. MSS held at Diocese of New Jersey archives, Trenton, NJ. See also Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski "St. Augustine’s, Elizabeth hesitant to Fund Building a Segregated White Church in Levittown: A Letter from The Rev. Junius F. Carter, Jr. to Bishop Banyard, June 16, 1958," DNJRJR (August 3, 2026):
[3] “Alfred L. Banyard to Ralph C. Lasher,” June 16, 1958. MSS held at Diocese of New Jersey archives, Trenton, NJ. See also Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, "Banyard’s Intent to Build a Church for the Segregated Levitt Co. Development, and Contempt for Concerned Black Leaders: A Letter to the Rev. Lasher, June 16, 1958," DNJRJR (July 21, 2026): https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2026/07/banyards-intent-to-build-church-for.html.
[4] This is likely a significant exaggeration.
[5] “Alfred L. Banyard to Junius F. Carter, Jr.,” June 18, 1958. Courtesy of the Diocese of New Jersey. MSS held at Diocese of New Jersey archives, Trenton, NJ.
Monday, August 3, 2026
St. Augustine’s, Elizabeth hesitant to Fund Building a Segregated White Church in Levittown: A Letter from The Rev. Junius F. Carter, Jr. to Bishop Banyard, June 16, 1958
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| The Rev. Junius F. Carter, Jr. (Detail from "NAACP Million Dollar Campaign" (2021). Benjamin Lawson Hooks Papers images. 648.) |
As reporting on the segregation policy of the Levitt Corporation became more widely known,[1] members of Black Episcopal Churches in the Diocese began to raise serious concerns about Bishop Banyard’s planned collaboration[2] with Levitt for a new Episcopal Church in Levittown, NJ. Among them was the leadership of St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, Elizabeth, including the Rev. Junius F. Carter, Jr.[3] The Rev. Carter wrote to Banyard on June 16, 1958, noting recent press coverage of Levitt’s anti-Black policy, and expressing his and his congregation’s concerns over the issue. He specifically states that the church might find it hard to justify participating in the funding of what he says “would undoubtedly be a segregated church” for an overtly all-white development. Carter assumes that the diocese “cannot help but take a stand against this kind of flagrant and deliberate discrimination.” Banyard would respond,[4] seeking to allay Carter’s concerns, but would not in fact ultimately “take a stand against this kind of… discrimination.” The letter shows that the leadership of the diocese were well aware of the problems with the Levitt scheme. Carter’s letter[5] is presented in full below, along with the newspaper article[6] he forwarded to Banyard.
Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, Ph.D.
Reparations Commission Research Historian
Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey
[1] E.g. Tom Barrett, “N.J. Levittown Started; Negro Exclusion Stands,” New York Herald Tribune, June 8, 1958. Reporting also appeared in the New York Times.
[2] Including Banyard’s staff soliciting a donation of land from Levitt, and the announced plan to fund the building of what would be, at least de facto, an exclusively white church through a pressure campaign on all the churches (including the Black churches) of the Diocese to donate. See Gerald R. Minchin, “Presentation of Mission Program to the Diocesan Convention,” in The Journal of the 172nd Annual Convention of the Church in the Diocese of New Jersey Held in the Crypt of Trinity Cathedral, Trenton, Tuesday and Wednesday May 8th and 9th, 1956; 146.
[3] Carter was a highly respected priest in the diocese and later went on to become the first Black priest made a Canon of the Cathedral. See Laurence Fish, “Honorary Canons,” first published June 2, 2009; republished at https://dioceseofnj.org/archives/articles/2009lfcanons/.
[4] “Alfred L. Banyard to Junius F. Carter, Jr.” June 18, 1958. MSS held at Diocese of New Jersey archives, Trenton, NJ (See also Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, "Banyard Disputes Concerns Over Collaboration with Openly Racist Levitt Corporation: A Letter to The Rev. Carter, on June 18, 1958," DNJRJR [August 10, 2026]: https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2026/08/banyard-disputes-concerns-over.html.
[5] “Junius F. Carter, Jr. to Alfred L. Banyard,” June 16, 1958. Courtesy of the Diocese of New Jersey. MSS held at Diocese of New Jersey archives, Trenton, NJ.
[6] Barrett, “N.J. Levittown Started.”
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
Banyard’s Intent to Build a Church for the Segregated Levitt Co. Development, and Contempt for Concerned Black Leaders: A Letter to the Rev. Lasher, June 16, 1958
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| Tom Barrett - "N.J. Levittown Started; Negro Exclusion Stands" NY Herald Tribune June 8, 1958 (Courtesy of the Diocese of New Jersey; MSS held at Diocese of New Jersey archives, Trenton, NJ) |
In response to the Rev. Lasher’s letter the previous week,[1] in which he warned Bishop Banyard of possible “trouble” for the proposed diocesan collaboration with the Levitt corporation stemming from Levitt’s very public policy of racial discrimination (see article above), Banyard penned a letter on June 16, 1958. In this letter Banyard expanded on the issue mentioned by Lasher, which had apparently been raised the previous Tuesday by members attending the diocesan Board of Missions meeting. As ever, Banyard’s private tone regarding those he disagreed with was nasty, in this case specifically toward the Rev. Kenneth MacDonald of St. Augustine’s, Atlantic City and Mr. Arthur Jones of Camden. He insulted their behavior as “rude” and “obstreperous” because they had dared to raise concerns at the meeting, and he also imputed untoward motives to them. Besides these ad hominem attacks, Banyard’s further comments are illuminating. He suggests that bringing up such concerns amounted to “nearly ruining” an otherwise “efficient” meeting, which is to say, his chief concern was that his agenda be acted on without any hindrance or question.[2]
Banyard was aware of the Levitt policy but largely dismissed the expressed concern over taking an enormous gift from the racist corporation and cooperating extensively with their racist program. Firstly, he claims that the diocese “could not control Mr. Levitt’s company.” Then he suggests that the concern over discrimination is irrelevant because all the churches of the diocese were integrated (this was demonstrably false). How a church in an intentionally all-white development was to be considered “integrated” he does not say.[3] He also states that he does not think that Levitt would be able to discriminate successfully, since segregation in housing had been made illegal in New Jersey, and so the concern was not relevant. The distinction between de jure and de facto segregation seems not to have mattered to him. He does not seem concerned that Levitt was publicly telegraphing a segregationist agenda to attempt to ensure 1) that only white residents would seek to move there, 2) that a particular kind of white resident (those seeking an all-white development) would be disproportionately represented, and 3) that those white residents would help enforce de facto segregation (as the Klan had across the river in the Pennsylvania Levittown).[4]
On the one hand, Banyard does suggest that if Levitt goes through with his segregationist agenda that he is “sure that we would not want to accept his gift.” But on the other, he immediately undercuts this statement by insisting that he is “determined to minister to the Episcopalians in Levittown,” which would, logically, be exclusively white, “even if I have to raise the money… to purchase land across the street.” He then states unequivocally “we intend to proceed with our Levittown project” irrespective of the outcome of what he claims will be his “thorough… investigat[ion]” of the issue.
His seemingly feigned concern[5] is belied by his subsequent admission that at the aforementioned Board of Missions meeting he had asked MacDonald and Jones “Why would colored people want to live in a community where they are not wanted?” He also goes on to assert that West Indian Episcopalians discriminate against American “colored people” and that this fact he believes he has noticed undermines the legitimacy of any protest. His racial condescension in the letter is constant, and he makes his own prejudice inescapably clear in his final statements[6] where he writes:
I believe one reason why Mr. Levitt feels the way he does, is that it has often been the feeling that colored people do not keep up their properties, and since he has such an enormous investment, I suppose he does not want to start out with the difficulties that are usually involved with these negro people.
The letter is a very clear piece of evidence for Banyard’s racism, and the racist policies that characterized his episcopate. The letter[7] is presented in full below.
Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, Ph.D.
Reparations Commission Research Historian
Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey
[1] “Ralph C. Lasher to Alfred L. Banyard,” June 10, 1958. Courtesy of the Diocese of New Jersey. MSS held at Diocese of New Jersey archives, Trenton, NJ. See Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, “A Warning of ‘Trouble’ over ‘Levitt’s policy of discrimination’: A Letter from the Rev. Lasher to Bishop Banyard, June 10, 1958,” DNJRJR (July 7, 2026): https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2026/07/a-warning-of-trouble-over-levitts.html.
[2] The slavishly “enthusiastic” behavior of hand-picked committee members chronicled in the minutes of the diocesan Levittown Committee meetings of that year show exactly what Banyard expected of meetings. MSS held at Diocese of New Jersey archives, Trenton, NJ.
[3] Nevertheless he claims that had already told the Vice President of the Levitt corporation that “there would be no segregation permitted as far as the Episcopal Church was concerned.” He neglected to say exactly how tactfully and euphemistically he made this comment to the VP.
[4] See Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, “Christ the King, Levittown: An Example of the ‘White Flight’ Mission,” DNJRJR (October 8, 2024): https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2024/10/christ-king-levittown-example-of-white.html, note 2: “When the first Black family moved in to the Levittown across the river in Pennsylvania in 1957, the neighbors called in the Ku Klux Klan to organize the protest and local police did not stop it (even as it included cross burning and rock throwing). This was all well reported and the racialized nature of Levitt developments was well known.” See also Jerry Jonas, “60 Years Later, the Levittown Shame That Still Lingers,” Bucks County Courier Times (August 12, 2017).
[5] And even while feigned, still only half-heartedly feigned.
[6] Which, by their location in the letter, carry more rhetorical import.
[7] “Alfred L. Banyard to Ralph C. Lasher,” June 16, 1958. Courtesy of the Diocese of New Jersey. MSS held at the Diocese of New Jersey archives, Trenton, NJ.
Tuesday, July 14, 2026
EVENT: Diocesan Slavery History Pilgrimage Saturday, July 18, 2026 (11am) Perth Amboy
The Diocese of New Jersey Reparations Commission will offer its slavery history pilgrimage again on Saturday, July 18, 2026 beginning at 11am. The pilgrimage starts and ends in Perth Amboy and follows a liturgy of reflection and repentance through a circuit of sites of memory related to Anglican and Episcopal involvement in slavery. We will meet at 11am at the Perth Amboy Ferry Slip UNESCO slave trade marker (site #1) to begin the pilgrimage. We will eat lunch between sites #2 and #3 and will plan to arrive at site #3 (Marlpit Hall) at approximately 12:50pm. Email Dr. Jolyon Pruszinski (jolyonp@princeton.edu) to let us know you'll be participating or if you have any questions. The full pilgrimage guide is available as a PDF document online or in smartphone-friendly format and you can follow it yourself at any time. For the July 18th pilgrimage participants are responsible for their own travel to/from Perth Amboy but we may be able to travel more efficiently via carpool between pilgrimage sites.
The addresses for all of the sites are included in the pilgrimage guide but are also listed here.
Site #1: Perth Amboy UNESCO slave trade marker
300 Front Street; Perth Amboy, NJ
300 Front Street; Perth Amboy, NJ
Site #2: Tinton Falls African Burial Ground
750 Tinton Ave.; Tinton Falls, NJ 07724
Site #3: Marlpit Hall Museum
137 Kings Hwy.; Middletown, NJ 07748
Site #4: Mount Mitchill Scenic Overlook
460 Ocean Blvd.; Atlantic Highlands, NJ
Site #5: Perth Amboy UNESCO slave trade marker (same as site #1)
300 Front Street; Perth Amboy, NJ
Please be aware that it is customary to make a small donation at the Marlpit Hall Museum to support the exhibit. Also, please plan to either bring a lunch, or to buy lunch at an establishment nearby the pilgrimage route. There are many lunch options available. We are looking forward to having you join us!
Tuesday, July 7, 2026
A Warning of “Trouble” over “Levitt’s policy of discrimination”: A Letter from the Rev. Lasher to Bishop Banyard, June 10, 1958
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| Ralph C. Lasher (photo from The Montrose Voice, 3/10/89) courtesy of the Texas Obituary Project. Alfred L. Banyard (photo by Jolyon Pruszinski of portrait displayed at the Diocese of New Jersey, Trenton, NJ). |
The Rev. Ralph C. Lasher,[1] then as a twenty-nine-year-old Rector of the Church of St. John the Evangelist, New Brunswick, wrote to Bishop Banyard in June of 1958 in light of recent high-profile reporting[2] on the Levitt corporation’s formal policy of racial discrimination in its housing developments. Banyard had solicited and accepted a donation of land from Levitt for the construction of an Episcopal church in the planned Levittown development in New Jersey.[3] Lasher was concerned that Levitt’s stated policy of discrimination might cause fellow priests to reject the collaboration, stating that a “considerable feeling on the part of some clergymen” was that the policy “would make it embarrassing for the Episcopal Church to become involved.” Lasher did not seemingly agree with this concern, and even seemed to suggest that it might only be an excuse for these clergy to resist the project. Rather, he raised the “racial question” as a potential source of “trouble” but pledged his own full support, suggesting how important he and others felt it was that “when we go into a new area, we should do so by building an imposing Church.” The letter indicates how well-known Levitt’s discriminatory practices were, including among clergy and leadership in the diocese at the time. The full letter[4] is shown below.
Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, Ph.D.
Reparations Commission Research Historian
Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey
[1] Lasher went on later in life to become a well-known gay rights activist, director of the Montrose Clinic, and founder of support groups for those living with HIV-AIDS. For more information see https://www.texasobituaryproject.org/082614lasher.html.
[2] Including in Tom Barrett, “N.J. Levittown Started; Negro Exclusion Stands,” New York Herald Tribune, June 8, 1958; but also in the New York Times.
[3] See Gerald R. Minchin, “Presentation of Mission Program to the Diocesan Convention,” in The Journal of the 172nd Annual Convention of the Church in the Diocese of New Jersey Held in the Crypt of Trinity Cathedral, Trenton, Tuesday and Wednesday May 8th and 9th, 1956, 146.
[4] “Ralph C. Lasher to Alfred L. Banyard,” June 10, 1958. Courtesy of the Diocese of New Jersey. MSS held at Diocese of New Jersey archives, Trenton, NJ.
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